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Reasons for the Weakness of the League of Nations - Coggle Diagram
Reasons for the Weakness of the League of Nations
Structural Weakness
includes the lack of authority and limited membership
various parts of the League did not work well together and was hard to take effective actions
The Secretariat was understaffed and disorganised
The Conference of Ambassadors often made desicions that should have been made by the League itself.
working relationship between the General Assembly and the Council was not defined
any action needs to be agreed with a unanimous vote between the Council and two-third vote in the Assembly
unanimous voting gave permanent members of the Council power of veto
there were too many nations represented in the League, it was difficult to obtain unanimous consent for any desicions
Lack of Authority and Credibility
lacks to enforce its will because of close association with the Treaty of Versailles
Peacekeeping Measure
Moral Persuasion
failed against strong nations, which ignored criticism and condemnations
Military sanctions
The League did not have an army
League members were not willing to get involved
Economic sanctions
League members did not want their economy to be affected
Offending League members could withdraw from the group
The peacekeeping measures were ineffective and did not stop Germany, Italy and Japan from pursuing their goals in the 1930
Limited membership of the League
42 countries initially joined the League
however, many Europeans countries faced economic problems and were military weak from World War 1
The USA did not join the League despite best efforts to convince
the USA prefer to engage in foreign affairs at their own pace rather than committing themselves
because of the USA not joining, the League did not have necessary economic and military backup to enforce its will
there were certain countries that were not allowed to join as they are seen as threats e.g Germany was not allowed until 1926 because of their role causing World War 1
Post-War attitudes
The major powers were affected by the disastrous outcomes of the war
Britain
suffered the most casualties (658700 dead,2032150 wounded and 359150 missing)
France
war-weary and in a pacifist state
started to viewed Germany as a danger and determined that Germany should be kept weak
Italy
dissatisfied with the shares of the spoils after the war
Japan
felt that it deserved a larger share of the Far Eastern pie
increasingly aware of lack of resources
USA
retreated back to isolation
all nations viewed their own concerns and interest more important than the League's goal, which is to have world peace